Music Review: JP, Chrissie and The Fairground Boys - "Fidelity!"

I have always loved Chrissie Hynde! I love her shag haircut. I love her runny black eyeliner. I even love her "boots of Chinese plastic." But most of all I love that on the first JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys CD "Fidelity!" Chrissie Hynde has finally found love! The first thing you need to know is that this is not a Pretenders CD; this is Chrissie's first time recording music without her famous moniker. But does that matter? Not really, because ever since 1983 the Pretenders have really been all about Ms. Hynde. She writes the songs and she sings them with that "voice." The voice that no one else has. The voice that has so much sexy soul on ballads and so much punk angst on rockers that it just might be the best female voice in rock... maybe the best voice period... sorry Robert Plant! So where was I? Oh yeah... "Fidelity!" on this CD Chrissie Hynde teams with 31 year-old musician JP Jones to produce one of the best CDs of 2010. All the songs on the CD are pretty much autobiographical and tell the story of Hynde and Jones' courtship. Their story and the CD start with "Perfect Lover" and this is when we find out that Chrissie's perfect lover is half her age but that doesn't matter because she wants him "in her kitchen and standing on her stage" and what she gets is a relatively unknown artist who is actually able to go toe to toe with Hynde and bring out the best in her both musically and lyrically. Next comes "If You Let Me" and if you don't like this song then you don't like music. That's right I said it! This is the song by which all other songs to come should be measured. So, do I want the Pretenders to stop making music? Absolutely not! But, I do hope that JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys continue to fill the void between Pretenders CDs for many years to come or at least until Hynde is 100 and Jones is 50! And as far as "Fidelity!" is concerned I intend to stay true to this CD for just as long.

Since I like drummers, my rating system will be 1 - 10 drumsticks. So drumroll please... 10 out of 10 drumsticks!